{"id":29950,"date":"2000-02-01T17:21:14","date_gmt":"2000-02-01T22:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=29950"},"modified":"2014-11-08T18:05:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-09T02:05:51","slug":"t-s-o-l-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/t-s-o-l-3\/","title":{"rendered":"T.S.O.L."},"content":{"rendered":"

T.S.O.L.<\/strong>
\nINTERVIEW WITH JACK GRISHAM, RON EMORY, MIKE ROCHE.<\/strong>
\nBY DIRTY JOE AND MIKEY SAMUELSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

What did T.S.O.L. originally stand for?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nJack: True Sounds of Liberty<\/p>\n

Where was T.S.O.L. from originally and what was the first show?<\/strong>
\nRon: We\u2019re originally from Long Beach and Huntington Beach.\u00a0 The first show was probably at The Cuckoo\u2019s Nest.
\nJack: Backyard parties.\u2008If we could, we would do a tour of people\u2019s backyards. The best shows were the ones that people threw together.<\/p>\n

Why did you change your name on every record?<\/strong>
\nJack: People used to think it was because people were trying to kill me, but that wasn\u2019t the real reason. You had that thing, \u2018no hero\u2019s\u2019. So we changed our names because it didn\u2019t matter who was in the band. It could be different every time. Anybody could be in the band. On that, Todd and I just switched our names.<\/p>\n

Is there anything you\u2019d like to say about Todd?<\/strong>
\nJack: Yeah, Todd dying was fucked. It was a bad deal. We hadn\u2019t played with him for years and we\u2019d been apart. You never want to lose a friend.
\nMike: It\u2019s hard to get through the shit. It hit us all pretty hard in different degrees and different ways.
\nJack: It was fucked. He was a nice guy and it was fucked. And the sad thing is, it\u2019s not the first friend and it won\u2019t be the last.
\nRon: He was a hell of a drummer and a good friend. We got a bunch of emails on the website, a bunch of people talking about him. What an influence he made on the music we played. After touring and talking to a lot of people all over the country, he made a big impact on a lot of people.<\/p>\n

Why did you guys end up getting back together after so many years or did you guys get back together to rid the world of the memory of the rock and roll version of TSOL?<\/strong>
\n[everyone laughs]
\nJack: We played reunion shows before. When we did it back then, it was a money thing. This time we were asked to play at this art show [Bergermire Station]. They said \u2018Hey, do you guys want to get together and play a few songs?\u2019 and it was free. We were getting together to play a couple songs and have fun. The show was Devo, X, The Weirdos, The Plugs, The Urinals, The Go-Go\u2019s and Rick El-Rick. And we got our plywood metallic silver fucking trophy for Outstanding Achievement in the World of Punk Rock. When we walked on stage and played the first song, the lighting rack goes down, mike stand gets chucked into somebody\u2019s head, and the bouncer\u2019s nose gets broken in the space of one minute. Then from that, somebody called us and said, \u201cWe heard you guys played, would you be wanting to go on tour?\u201d Basically, this has been all for fun, because we like playing with each other.<\/p>\n

What changes have you noticed in the L.A. punk scene in the last few years?<\/strong>
\nJack:\u00a0 It fucking blows! It\u2019s bad, kids are fucked up, they\u2019re confused. You don\u2019t know who\u2019s on your team. One of the worst things I ever saw, there was a barricade at the front of the stage – ya know, the shows are so fucking safe now – I\u2019m not advocating people going out and kicking each other\u2019s ass, I mean they\u2019re safe like there\u2019s no stage diving, no fucking insanity. You used to be able to go into a club and people would be lighting the bathrooms on fire, everyone\u2019s getting hammered and shit\u2019s getting stolen. It was a blast! Now, you go in and it\u2019s so fucking orderly. Everyone comes up and buys their t-shirts, stands behind the barricade, and get their soft drink. It\u2019s fucked. This one time, shit\u2019s getting wild and the barricade falls down and I\u2019m going \u201cyeah, rush it!\u201d. Now the stage is going to be covered with kids throwing our stuff off the stage. Instead they stop and help the security guards set the barricade back up. I looked at that and said \u2018that is just fucking unbelievable.\u2019 That\u2019s like a lot of the bands these days. They act like what we rebelled against. At old T.S.O.L. shows, there were times when we\u2019d show up and hand the promoter a 200 person guest list. And he\u2019d go \u201cfuck you\u201d and then we\u2019d go \u201cfuck you, we\u2019re not playing, we\u2019re either getting 200 in or fuck off.\u201d You get your friends in, there is no one watching the backstage because there\u2019s no backstage. You are we and we are you and there we are, come back. Our beer is your beer, everybody hang out. Everybody get on stage and then we go out and battle the cops afterward. The bands nowadays act like Journey. There are punk bands out there, or they call themselves punk bands, they don\u2019t get to the show til it\u2019s time to go on stage. \u201cStay out of our backstage area, don\u2019t touch my deli tray and I don\u2019t walk through the crowd.\u201d Ya know, it\u2019s fucked.
\nMike:\u00a0 And outwardly, it\u2019s bigger. It\u2019s much bigger, if you had to take a snapshot of the scene, but it\u2019s a Sprite commercial. The cars are pulling up, it\u2019s not a stolen car, like we used to get there, 30 people in a little car. Now nice cars pull up and outside the security would be like \u201cmove, move\u201d and they all fucking herd in like cattle and the bands are saying they\u2019re punk but there\u2019s something lost in the translation.
\nJack: One of my favorite things I ever saw at a punk show, that East L.A. show [talking to Mike]. The cops showed up to the show and there was this guy standing there. This guy breaks a board off the fence of his house. He\u2019s holding the board in his hand and it had a nail in it. He said \u201clet\u2019s get him\u201d to the cops. You never see that now. There\u2019s no unity, we\u2019re here to save the world from themselves. [laughing] We\u2019re making an army, we\u2019re training youngsters how to make bombs in buckets again. They need to relearn lesson one. Stand in the middle of the crowd and throw bottles. Back to school. Now there\u2019s a sizable army, so we figure a little training is necessary.<\/p>\n

What have you guys been doing for the last ten years?<\/strong>
\nJack:\u00a0 God\u2019s good work, we\u2019re missionaries.
\nMike: Yeah, in different areas of society.
\nJack: Yeah, we\u2019re visitors.
\nMike: Yeah, we\u2019re visitors, observing.<\/p>\n

How was Social Chaos and the other tours last year?<\/strong>
\nJack: It was fun.
\nRon: Probably the best tours we ever did.\u00a0 We had a blast.
\nJack: And all the bands were great. At first, everyone was kind of standoffish, cause they were all English bands, except for DOA and DRI. So they\u2019re all like \u201cfucking Yanks\u201d, at first. Then by the end, it was a blast. We\u2019d be playing and look over and Charlie Harper would be standing on the stage watching.
\nRon: Charlie Harper is on the side of the stage singing \u201cWarhead to Code Blue\u201d.
\nJack: Yeah, it was funny. Gene from Chelsea, he was always coming up to us going \u201cWe\u2019re fucking rockers man and we gotta stay together!\u201d The little stuff that we did after that, we did by ourselves. We toured through California, Oregon and Washington.
\nRon: We got to go back and play places, because that Social Chaos tour was ridiculously expensive for a punk rock show. We got to play for $5. It was a blast.<\/p>\n

How was the response from your fans since getting back together?<\/strong>
\nJack: Some of it was really good and some of it was weird. Some people don\u2019t know that it was two different bands. So, they\u2019d go \u201cT.S.O.L.\u2019s playing, oh that\u2019s a metal band. Fuck those guys.\u201d They didn\u2019t realize it was two completely different bands. So a lot of times, we had to walk out and reprove ourselves. By the end of the night, they\u2019d be coming up to us going \u2018fuck you guys are great\u2019. But then, some places knew. A lot of the kids go back.\u2008They get out the old records and want to learn the history of the scene. So you get kids like that, they know everything. They weren\u2019t born, but they know all the words to the songs and then they tell their friends, \u2018hey you should see these guys. These guys are great!\u2019<\/p>\n

Ron, skateboarding and cars?<\/strong>
\nRon: I like them both. [laughing]<\/p>\n

Mike, tattoos?<\/strong>
\nMike: Yeaaaaaaah.<\/p>\n

Jack, surfing?<\/strong>
\nJack: Yes.
\nRon: You can count me in on that one too. First love of my life.
\nJack: I surf everyday. The old surfers were punks, swastika surfboards, fucking animals. How could you not love that? The early surf thing was great, getting hammered on the beach, you\u2019re with your friends, you go to parties, you\u2019re fucking drunk, you\u2019re breaking stuff, you’re stealing shit, you’re out of control, it was wild. Surfing was punk rock before punk rock was punk rock.
\nRon: And skating evolved, from lack of waves. Late \u201860s, early \u201870s, metal wheels, clay wheels. I used to wear clay wheels down to nothing in a weekend at San Gabriel River Mountains.
\nJack:\u00a0 You still ride that Black Knight?
\nRon: No, a Red Roller derby. It came out in \u201859. It was a hand me down from my brother.
\nMike: But when Road Riders II came out, it was on.
\nRon: When Meta-flex came out, even before Precision bearings. That was the shit, man. We skated pools, I loved skating pools. Backyard pools that were not meant to be skated. That\u2019s what I like to do. It just hurts a little more.
\nJack: They took the whole surf scene and sold it. They took something that was pure and sold it. They took skateboards, something that was pure and sold it. They took punk rock, something that was pure and sold it.
\nMike: It\u2019s America. It\u2019s fucking America!
\nRon: Capitalize!
\nMike: When you\u2019re a purist, it\u2019s something that\u2019s hard to swallow. Everything that used to be out in space and wild and different is now fucked, but I\u2019m not giving up.<\/p>\n

So, you guys are putting a new album out?<\/strong>
\nJack: Yeah, we\u2019re going to. We\u2019re writing right now. It\u2019s taking us a little bit cause we haven\u2019t played with each other in such a long time. It\u2019s almost like starting all over again. We\u2019re supposed to have something out by June. [laughing] Internet release only, we\u2019re changing our name to the Artist formerly known as T.S.O.L.<\/p>\n

In the last year, who has been your biggest supporter?<\/strong>
\nMike: We\u2019ve had some support from bands: Fletcher from Pennywise, Dub All Stars have been nice. A lot of older bands have been respectful and it\u2019s been cool. U.S. Bombs, Cadillac Tramps, all those bands.
\nJack: Basically, no one supported us, they\u2019re a bunch of cock-sucking fucks. I wish they\u2019d all just burn in hell. They don\u2019t want us playing. Know why? They don\u2019t want Daddy to come home. You know what I mean, that\u2019s what it is. Basically the kids have been bad, they\u2019ve been very willful and very disobedient and dad has just shown up with a belt and they\u2019re not happy about it. There\u2019s been some spankings being turned out.<\/p>\n

TO ORDER JUICE MAGAZINE ISSUE #48, PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T.S.O.L. INTERVIEW WITH JACK GRISHAM, RON EMORY, MIKE ROCHE. BY DIRTY JOE AND MIKEY SAMUELSON What did T.S.O.L. originally stand for?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jack: True Sounds of Liberty Where was T.S.O.L. from originally and what was the first show? Ron: We\u2019re originally from Long Beach and Huntington Beach.\u00a0 The first show was probably at The Cuckoo\u2019s Nest. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4028,4034],"tags":[11230,11229,11221,14424,5894,11228,11107,4664,11219,11220,14313,11227,6643,11226,11224,11225,11223,11222,6738,3437],"class_list":["post-29950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-music-2","tag-cadillac-tramps","tag-charlie-harper","tag-cuckoos-nest","tag-devo","tag-doa","tag-dri","tag-dub-all-stars","tag-jack-grisham","tag-mike-roche-dirty-joe","tag-mikey-samuelson","tag-pennywise","tag-rick-el-rick","tag-ron-emory","tag-the-go-gos","tag-the-plugs","tag-the-urinals","tag-the-weirdos","tag-todd-barnes","tag-u-s-bombs","tag-x"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/TSOL48.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29950"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48580,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29950\/revisions\/48580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}